Launched in June by alums of star chef Barbara Lynch’s Italian empire here, this South End spot focuses on coastal Italian food and drink — seafood crudo here, spritzes there — all served in a light-filled sapphire blue-tinged space whose aesthetic calls to mind nothing so much as Portofino and Positano (617-530-1770).

A six-month-old Somerville dining destination, just north of Cambridge, Juliet made Bon Appetit’s long list of 2016’s best new restaurants (617-718-0958). Lauded for the “energetic, personal cooking” of its ever-changing, three- or –five-course price-fixed dinners, they are served Thursday to Saturday (or get dishes a la carte at the open kitchen’s bar, or daily breakfast and lunch). The food is inspired by sources far and wide.

Globe-trotting tapas trot across the menu at this latest outing — opened since July in Cambridge — from chef and restaurateur Ken Oringer, best known for the strictly Spanish small plates of Toro and the pan-Asian, six-month-old Uni (617-945-1008). Come for lamb bacon lettuce wraps and matzo ball ramen, stay for the chocolate chip cookie dough, sweetly served on the end of an electric mixer’s beater.

Those mourning the loss of James Beard Award-winning Boston chef Jody Adams’ just-closed Rialto will find her sailing through Southern European waters at this weeks-old downtown joint, turning out inventive Mediterranean-inspired recipes from seafood sourced around New England (617-536-1234). Be sure to start your meal with the monthly seasonal cocktail, prepared tableside.

Still booked solid weeks in advance for weekend dinners a year after opening, this see-and-be-seen, speakeasy-style spot, hidden behind an ersatz beauty shop downtown, feels as much like a private gentleman’s club as a restaurant (617-267-0047). The flavor-packed international small plates are almost less the point than the scenery: cheeky mock-heroic portraits of Bill Murray and Christopher Walken, lovingly lit library shelves, crystal chandeliers, button-tufted round banquettes and beautiful people included.